Who should you network with?

Everyone always asks me, “Who should I network with?”

And my answer to these very subjective, very open-ended questions is:

It depends.

If you’re brand new to networking, this is a GREAT time to establish a deliberate direction in which to point your compass.

(and even if you’re not new - this is still a great time to review your current strategies and assess if the path you’re on is still the best path for your future needs!)

Here’s what I would recommend doing first:

Make a list of groups that you both need + want to network with, or know you will encounter as you go about your life.

My groups:

• Primary connections
• Secondary connections
• Nice-to-have connections
• Acquaintances only

When you have end goals, it’s easier to help you swiftly categorize each new person you come across so you can better allocate the amount of energy and time you invest in each connection.

After all - you probably wouldn’t invest the same effort into a relationship with a stranger than you would on your wife, would you?

Or give more to your church group than you would to your own children, right?

Networking has the same relational mindset - you grow where you are planted, and what thrives is often what gets watered the most consistently.

Here are some examples of the primary connections I plant seeds into and water regularly:

• My coworkers - I lean on everyone in my office to support me in my role, so ensuring that I develop strong relationships with them is important for my professional success.? I know I can’t do this job or support all my clients alone.
• My neighbors - since I travel a lot for work, it’s important for my house to stay safe from harm, so having positive relationships with the people who can keep an eye on it for me helps reduce distractions as I do my job, and allows me to be fully present for the task at hand
• My inner circle - I rely on my friends a LOT to stay afloat.? From instant emotional support when dealing with a myriad of life’s challenges to making sure my dog is loved & cared for, I depend on this group of very valuable people every single day.? Which means that, when they ask me for anything, I bump that request up to the top and do whatever I can to make it happen.

Some examples of secondary connections who are still important, but who I won’t necessarily answer my phone in the middle of my son’s piano recital are:

• My clients.? Now, while you may be wondering why this is since, as a salesperson, clients are VERY important for my job, let me remind you why we are here: networking.? And networking is a two-way street.? While I get paid to support my clients, and go above and beyond to do so, my clients have zero obligation to support my needs in return.? Without that return on my investment of time and energy, it’s merely a transactional exchange.? A withdrawal on my social account.? Even if I made commission and received a deposit financially, none of that has any bearing on the social cost it requires to achieve that goal.? They are two completely different types of transactions.
• Friends.? These are different than my inner circle in that, yes, we have a positive relationship, but it’s infrequent or task-based vs. unconditional.? My inner circle would pick up the phone if I called in the middle of the night with an emergency.? Standard friends will not do that.? They are the ones you keep up with on Facebook, and probably don’t even have their email address.
• Community members.? People in your church, the booster club for your daughter’s color guard, your son’s baseball team, etc.? These people are in your life in a big way, but only for a designated slice of time.? Giving them full access to you 24/7 would not necessarily be a good use of your limited resources of time and energy, so networking with them in lieu of your primary group may not produce the best ROI.

Some nice-to-have network connections look like:

• People you may not have much to do with now, but who are in a field of study or different part of the industry which you may be considering moving into in the future
• Financial advisors, insurance agents, tax professionals, etc.? While it’s good to know a few, bloating your LinkedIn connections with too many of these obstructs you from seeing relevant content, so be selective about how many you accept
• Suppliers.? Since I’m no longer in Procurement, I don’t need to network as heavily with vendors like I used to.? While it’s good to know who exists so I can pass that info along to someone who asks, it’s not a priority for me to maintain these relationships at the expense of building my primary ones instead

And finally: acquaintances only.?

Which are essentially the people you see at all those local networking events who are familiar to you…but who don’t actually contribute relevant value to your personal or professional needs.? Sure, it’s fun to grab a drink with them on those days, but if the extent of your relationship is based on nothing more…are they truly worth being (and staying) on your radar?? Do you really want to take resources away from your primary group to invest into these acquaintances, knowing full well that you probably won’t see those favors returned anytime soon - if at all?

Networking can be an amazing tool if you keep it sharp, and use it right.

But it starts with not buying tools for the sake of having a full toolbox purely to show off to the masses.? That’s called clutter, folks...lol.

And if you clutter up your LinkedIn by accepting all kinds of this-could-be-useful-one-day-I-swear! “connections” (which you know full well that you will never actually use - and who have no use for you either), do you think the algorithm will actually show you posts or articles that are relevant to you in this season of your life?

So today, I give you permission to exfoliate your social media of any connections who don’t positively serve you or your future.

And I bet you, in just a few short weeks, you’ll finally get the opportunity to see those network connections who haven’t been showing up in your path like they should.

And can start to engage with them a little more - both online, and perhaps, in person.

And maybe, just maybe, those network connections will finally get the chance to make a deposit into your life in some way...